The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 01, 2019
Filed:
Mar. 22, 2011
Richard R. King, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Christopher M. Fetzer, Valencia, CA (US);
Dimitri D. Krut, Encino, CA (US);
Nasser H. Karam, La Canada, CA (US);
Richard R. King, Thousand Oaks, CA (US);
Christopher M. Fetzer, Valencia, CA (US);
Dimitri D. Krut, Encino, CA (US);
Nasser H. Karam, La Canada, CA (US);
THE BOEING COMPANY, Chicago, IL (US);
Abstract
A semiconductor device structure having increased photogenerated current density, and increased current output is disclosed. The device includes low bandgap absorber regions that increase the range of wavelengths at which photogeneration of charge carriers takes place, and for which useful current can be collected. The low bandgap absorber regions may be strain balanced by strain-compensation regions, and the low bandgap absorber regions and strain-compensation regions may be formed from the same ternary semiconductor family. The device may be a solar cell, subcell, or other optoelectronic device with a metamorphic or lattice-mismatched base layer, for which the low bandgap absorber region improves the effective bandgap combination of subcells and current balance within the multijunction cell, for higher efficiency conversion of the solar spectrum.